1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a closure panel control apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
In a known power window apparatus (serving as a closure panel control apparatus), which drives a window glass (serving as a closure panel) of a vehicle to open and close the same, an electric motor is used as a drive source to drive the window glass. In such a power window apparatus, the motor having a high torque is often used to drive the window glass to avoid trouble under various conditions, to which the vehicle may be exposed.
However, the use of the motor having the high torque imposes a need for controlling the rotational speed of the motor to avoid generation of, for example, vibrations and noises at the time of starting and stopping the opening operation and the closing operation of the window glass.
Japanese Patent No. 3374446, which has been previously published as Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H07-018947A, proposes a technique of controlling the motor according to the driving state of the vehicle and the surrounding environment and thereby to gently open and close the window glass.
More specifically, Japanese Patent No. 3374446 teaches a power window control apparatus that senses the driving state of the vehicle and the current surrounding environment around the vehicle and controls the motor based on measurement signals, which indicate the sensed driving state of the vehicle and the surrounding environment.
The power window control apparatus senses whether the current state of the vehicle is in a turning state, an accelerating state, a decelerating state or a constant traveling speed state based on the measurement signals of the sensors, which include, for example, a vehicle speed sensor, a steering wheel angle sensor and a power window glass position sensor. Then, the power window control apparatus selects an appropriate speed map based on the signal, which indicates the determined state of the vehicle, and then controls the motor according to the selected speed map.
Thus, it is possible to perform the motor control operation according to the state of the vehicle, such as the turning state, the accelerating state, the decelerating state or the constant traveling speed state. In this way, fine opening and closing control can be performed, and generation of rattling noise can be limited.
According to Japanese Patent No. 3374446, the rotational control operation of the motor is executed in view of the current state of the vehicle and enables the limiting of the generation of the rattling noise. However, the rotational control operation of the motor is not made in view of the vehicle speed (i.e., the vehicle speed being used to determine, for example, the accelerating state and the decelerating state of the vehicle in Japanese Patent No. 3374446). Since the rotational speed of the motor is reduced at an upper end of a travel path of the window glass regardless of the vehicle speed, it may possibly happen that the window glass cannot be fully closed due to a load applied to the window glass at the time of driving the vehicle at the high vehicle speed.
Specifically, when the vehicle speed is increased, the load, which pulls the window glass toward the outside of the vehicle, is increased.
Therefore, when the motor control operation is executed regardless of the vehicle speed (i.e., reducing the rotational speed of the motor regardless of the vehicle speed), it may possibly happen that the window glass cannot be fully closed, particularly, at the time of driving the vehicle at the high vehicle speed.